I recently visited my family in Indianapolis over the Easter holiday. I decided to go completely wireless for four days. I didn’t take my laptop, iPod or Palm Pilot. I did take my cell phone for emergencies. Even though my son has a computer I made up my mind not to use it. I had no connection with my office as I said except for an emergency! No day-to-day checking up on the progress of certain projects, answering E-mails, writing material for my blog or doing any work on Proposals. This concept has a tendency to freak many people out! Digital isolation makes one feel uneasy, disconnected. It is the very opposite of what you are supposed to be doing and that is relaxing!
The computer age has actually changed my brain and the way I process information. I used to read books, but not anymore! I scan everything (a form of speed reading). My brain is actually working like a search engine: looking for keywords and targeted content that has relevant meaning to me at the present time. I look at indexes in books and table of contents (similar to a Site Map on a website). I am not able to sit down and read a book or story. That function has been replaced. My synapses are firing at a much faster pace and this keeps me constantly looking to feed my brain with more information. The amount of information I am getting never seems to be enough! Is that information overload? I simply cannot stop using my brain! I feel panicky when my brain has nothing to stimulate it.
It seems that the majority of Americans are fixated or obsessed with being connected at all times. Sitting at the airport everyone seemed to be on a laptop, listening to their Ipod or talking to someone on their cell phone. Nobody talks to each other anymore. I can’t remember the last time I had a nice conversation with someone sitting next to me on a plane flight. Everybody is plugged in somewhere else!
Research by the Solutions Research Group shows that over sixty percent of Americans feel anxious when they’re not connected one way or another. They have labeled this feeling as “disconnect anxiety.” There are feelings of disorientation or “something is wrong” when deprived of being connected. This seems to affect all age groups. The study also showed some disturbing information such as 63% of Blackberry users have sent a message from the bathroom and 37% of laptop users said they frequently used their mobile systems in the bedroom. Now we have the TV, computer and handhelds all being integrated into each other. We are going to be even more connected and a slave to being online. Is this good or bad? Let’s wait and see! In the meantime stay “Wired for Success!”
The computer age has actually changed my brain and the way I process information. I used to read books, but not anymore! I scan everything (a form of speed reading). My brain is actually working like a search engine: looking for keywords and targeted content that has relevant meaning to me at the present time. I look at indexes in books and table of contents (similar to a Site Map on a website). I am not able to sit down and read a book or story. That function has been replaced. My synapses are firing at a much faster pace and this keeps me constantly looking to feed my brain with more information. The amount of information I am getting never seems to be enough! Is that information overload? I simply cannot stop using my brain! I feel panicky when my brain has nothing to stimulate it.
It seems that the majority of Americans are fixated or obsessed with being connected at all times. Sitting at the airport everyone seemed to be on a laptop, listening to their Ipod or talking to someone on their cell phone. Nobody talks to each other anymore. I can’t remember the last time I had a nice conversation with someone sitting next to me on a plane flight. Everybody is plugged in somewhere else!
Research by the Solutions Research Group shows that over sixty percent of Americans feel anxious when they’re not connected one way or another. They have labeled this feeling as “disconnect anxiety.” There are feelings of disorientation or “something is wrong” when deprived of being connected. This seems to affect all age groups. The study also showed some disturbing information such as 63% of Blackberry users have sent a message from the bathroom and 37% of laptop users said they frequently used their mobile systems in the bedroom. Now we have the TV, computer and handhelds all being integrated into each other. We are going to be even more connected and a slave to being online. Is this good or bad? Let’s wait and see! In the meantime stay “Wired for Success!”
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